A paper published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology in May 2014 evaluated the competitiveness of the match for the major residency specialties. Instead of using USMLE Scores as a marker for competitiveness, the authors utilized supply and demand factors. They used positions per US applicant (PPUSA) as their value for difficulty in the match. A lower value of the PPUSA represented a more competitive specialty. They argued that "board scores and other variables traditionally used to gauge competitiveness can be confounded when there is a mismatch created by an overabundance of available positions." This could be another way of looking at specialty competitiveness. Residency Match Competitiveness by Specialty from 2011 to 2013 Specialty PPUSA Plastic Surgery 0.74 Urology 0.82 Orthopedic Surgery 0.83 Otolaryngology 0.84 Neurological Surgery 0.93 Radiation Oncology 0.93 Dermatology 0.95 Ophthalmology 1.01 General Surgery 1.10 Emergency Medicine 1.15 Internal Medicine-Pediatrics 1.16 OBGYN 1.24 Diagnostic Radiology 1.29 Anesthesiology 1.31 Pediatrics 1.42 Neurology 1.76 Psychiatry 1.77 PM&R 1.79 Internal Medicine 1.80 Pathology 1.98 Family Medicine 2.13 Source
